This week (June 1 – June 5), OpenWetWare.org will be moving from our current server at Rackspace to a new Rackspace Cloud Server. The server will be around the same class of machine and will be running on Ubuntu Linux rather than the existing RedHat Enterprise Linux release. All backups will be done to Rackspace Cloud Files. All MySQL database backups , and image files will be stored external to the server via Cloud Files. For those of you who are wondering why OWW will be using Ubuntu rather than Red Hat, it’s because Wikimedia uses Ubuntu for all of their MediaWiki servers; using it will keep OWW close to the infrastructure that MediaWiki is tested and developed on.

The move will be done Tuesday night around 11:00 PM EST. We don’t anticipate problems but the server will briefly go down as the IP address is changed. The new server has been configured and, just after changing the IP address, the most recent snapshot of the MySQL databases from the current server will be loaded to the new one and a final file sync will be executed.

There should be no changes in the way MediaWiki and any extensions are handled. LaTex has been installed on the new server. All extensions are working or are being tweaked before the move.

There will be no upgrade of OWW’s MediaWiki software release until the move is complete. Hard-won experience dictates that reducing variables is the right way to maximize the probability of a successful major server task.

Since OWW uses many virtual hosts, all of these will be tested briefly to make sure they are all accessible. This can’t be tested completely until the change. No problems are anticipated but if there are problems, this is the most likely place it will be.

Please submit any comments or questions to me. Either reply here or use this link and follow the contact instructions in the OpenWetWare wiki.